Syracuse pulls out its biggest home win this season, edging SMU, 79-78.

On Saturday afternoon, Syracuse only led for 91 seconds, but that included the final two ticks off the clock as they pulled out a 79-78 win over SMU on a layup by Nate Kingz. The Orange (15-11, 6-7 ACC) rallied from down a dozen points with just over 12 minutes on the clock to knock off the Mustangs (17-8, 6-6) in their first-ever visit to the JMA Wireless Dome.

SU trailed by eight points with 8:39 left, but tore off an 11-2 run to nose in front on a Kiyan Anthony three-point-play at 72-71 with 5:40 to go. The Mustangs came right back with five straight points, but Syracuse matched it for another one-point lead with 3:18 remaining.

SMU scored two trips later to go in front, then neither team could score until Kingz broke free on a drive for a lay-up that dropped in with 2.3 seconds on the clock that put the Orange in the win column.

The Syracuse defense stepped up late to support their rally

The Mustangs shot 43.3 percent on the day, but SU put the clamps down late, holding them to just 3-of-14 shooting and only nine points over the final eight minutes of play. Syracuse finished with a flourish to reach 45.0 percent shooting in the game, making 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) of their shots to close things out, including 6-of-13 3-pointers.

That fast finish helped the Orange overcome a poor effort on the defensive glass, as they gave up 16 offensive rebounds to SMU, who converted them into 27 second chance points.

The guests got on the board first, setting off a back-and-forth pace of the opening minutes where SU matched a Mustang score three times before taking their first lead at 11-9 when Kingz followed a William Kyle III layup with a 3-pointer. SMU responded with a 15-6 run capped by six straight points for a 24-17 lead with a little over nine minutes left in the opening half.

The Orange made several rallies during the middle of the game to keep SMU within reach

Donnie Freeman sliced the margin down to three with the game’s next four points, but the Mustangs tallied the next nine markers to take their first double figure lead at 33-21. Syracuse responded by making their next five shots from the floor in going on a 14-4 run capped by eight straight points to come back to 37-35.

SMU notched the only basket of the last 90 seconds of the first half to take a four-point lead at the break, then got an early 12-4 run when the action resumed for a 51-41 lead a little over three minutes into the second half. The Mustangs pushed the lead back out to a dozen points on three occasions, threatening to blow the game open.

The Orange clawed back, outscoring the guests by a 12-5 margin to draw within 66-61 with just under nine minutes remaining. After an SMU 3-pointer, SU took off on their finishing kick to pull out the game.

Freeman topped the Syracuse offense with 18 points despite not taking a shot over the final 16 minutes of play and also blocked four shots. Naithan George added 16 points while Anthony and Kingz each had 13. Anthony had all of his points in the second half.

Jaden Toombs came off the bench to pile up a game-high 19 points and was backed by the entire Mustang starting five, who all reached double digits. Corey Washington had 13 points while Jaron Pierre Jr. had 12, Boopie Miller and Samet Yigitoglu each added 11, and B.J. Edwards chipped in ten.

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